THE EFFECT OF COLLECTIVE DISPERSAL ON THE GENETIC STRUCTURE OF A SUBDIVIDED POPULATION

Correlated dispersal paths between two or more individuals are widespread across many taxa. The population genetic implications of this collective dispersal have received relatively little attention. Here we develop two‐sample coalescent theory that incorporates collective dispersal in a finite island model to predict expected coalescence times, genetic diversities, and F‐statistics. We show that collective dispersal reduces mixing in the system, which decreases expected coalescence times and increases F_ST. The effects are strongest in systems with high migration rates. Collective dispersal breaks the invariance of within‐deme coalescence times to migration rate, whatever the deme size. It can also cause F_ST to increase with migration rate because the ratio of within‐ to between‐deme coalescence times can decrease as migration rate approaches unity. This effect is most biologically relevant when deme size is small. We find qualitatively similar results for diploid and gametic dispersal. We also demonstrate with simulations and analytical theory the strong similarity between the effects of collective dispersal and anisotropic dispersal. These findings have implications for our understanding of the balance between drift–migration–mutation in models of neutral evolution. This has applied consequences for the interpretation of genetic structure (e.g., chaotic genetic patchiness) and estimation of migration rates from genetic data.     

MATRIARCHAL POPULATION GENETIC STRUCTURE IN AN AVIAN SPECIES WITH FEMALE NATAL PHILOPATRY

We employ mitochondrial (mt) DNA markers to examine the matrilineal component of population genetic structure in the snow goose Chen caerulescens. From banding returns, it is known that females typically nest at their natal or prior nest site, whereas males pair with females on mixed wintering grounds and mediate considerable nuclear gene flow between geographically separate breeding colonies. Despite site philopatry documented for females, mtDNA markers show no clear distinctions between nesting populations across the species' range from Wrangel Island, USSR to Baffin Island in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Two major mtDNA clades (as well as rare haplotypes) are distributed widely and provide one of the few available examples of a phylogeographic pattern in which phylogenetic discontinuity in a gene tree exists without obvious geographic localization within a species' range. The major mtDNA clades may have differentiated in Pleistocene refugia, and colonized current nesting sites through recent range expansion via pulsed or continual low-level dispersal by females. The contrast between results of banding returns and mtDNA distributions in the snow goose raises general issues regarding population structure: direct contemporary observations on dispersal and gene flow can in some cases convey a misleading impression of phylogeographic population structure, because they fail to access the evolutionary component of population connectedness; conversely, geographic distributions of genetic markers can provide a misleading impression of contemporary dispersal and gene flow because they retain a record of evolutionary events and past demographic parameters that may differ from those of the present. An understanding of population structure requires integration of both evolutionary (genetic) and contemporary (direct observational) perspectives.     

飞蝗复眼生理和结构上的节律变化

采用细胞内记录和光镜方法研究了飞蝗(Locusta migratoria)夜间和日间在暗适应和明适应状态下小网膜细胞角敏感度以及晶锥和小网膜细胞之间区域结构上的变化.结果表明小网膜细胞角敏感度的变化不仅仅由于晶锥周围主色素细胞色素颗粒的移动,而且也由于小眼感杆束结构上的节律变化.     

DISPERSAL, ROOKERY FIDELITY, AND METAPOPULATION STRUCTURE OF STELLER SEA LIONS (EUMETOPIAS JUBATUS) IN AN INCREASING AND A DECREASING POPULATION IN ALASKA

Over the past 24 yr, 8,596 Steller sea lion ( Eumetopias jubatus ) pups were branded on their natal rookeries throughout Alaska with the objectives of determining survival rates, recruitment, movements, and site fidelity. Our objectives here were to examine the extent of dispersal of Steller sea lions away from their natal rookeries, movements between stocks, and degree of natal rookery fidelity. Pups (<1 yr old) usually remained within 500 km of their natal rookery. Branded juveniles dispersed widely and were resighted at distances up to 1,785 km from their natal rookeries. Adults generally remained within 500 km of their natal rookeries. No interchange of breeding animals between the ES (eastern stock) and WS (western stock) was observed. Although natal rookery fidelity was prevalent, 33% of the 12 observations of females branded in the WS during 1987–1988 and 19% of the 29 observations of females branded in the ES during 1994–1995 were observed with newly born pups at sites other than their natal rookeries. Steller sea lions generally conformed to the metapopulation concept as depicted by Hanski and Simberloff (1997), with local breeding populations (rookeries) and movements among these local populations having the potential of affecting local dynamics.     

DISPERSAL IN THE WOOD FROG (RANA SYLVATICA): IMPLICATIONS FOR GENETIC POPULATION STRUCTURE

Recapture of marked juvenile and adult wood frogs in five Appalachian Mountain ponds showed adults to be 100% faithful to the ponds in which they first bred, but approximately 18% of the juveniles dispersed to breed in ponds other than the one of origin. Effective population sizes were generally smaller than the population censuses and genetic neighborhoods had an average radius of 1,126 meters. Values of standardized genetic variance based on effective population size and mating success were relatively small. Genetic population structure estimated from the dispersal data suggested that ponds within about a 1,000 meter radius should show little genetic differentiation; ponds separated by a distance greater than 1,000 meters should experience little gene flow and show higher genetic differentiation. Wood frogs in these ponds do not show a meta-population structure as suggested for newts.     

DISPERSAL AND GENETIC STRUCTURE IN KANGAROO RATS

We used spatial autocorrelation of allele frequencies to examine local structure in a population of bannertailed kangaroo rats for which Wright's isolation-by-distance model seems applicable, and for which we can estimate neighborhood size based on 10 years of data on demography and dispersal. The uniform dispersion and strong philopatric tendencies of this species provide a test case for the idea that restricted dispersal can lead to local genetic structure in small mammals. Whether we considered such complications as nonnormal dispersal distances, variation in lifetime reproductive success, fluctuating population density, and adult as well as juvenile dispersal, our estimate of effective population size was fewer than 15 animals. Nevertheless, data from four polymorphic allozyme loci analyzed over a range of separations between 50 m (approximately one home range diameter) and 1,000 m detected no evidence for spatial clustering of alleles. One resolution of this apparent paradox is that “gamete dispersal,” caused by the movements of males away from their residences during the breeding season, may be a significant (and unmeasured) component of gene dispersal. Our analyses also demonstrate that a decline in population density may actually increase neighborhood size. A more general implication is that even extremely philopatric mammals have effective population sizes large enough to prevent the development of local genetic structure.     

POPULATION SIZE,DISTRIBUTION AND DISPERSAL OF KELP GULLS IN THE SOUTHWESTERN CAPE,SOUTH AFRICA

Steele, W.K. & Hockey, P.A.R. 1990. Population size, distribution and dispersal of Kelp Gulls in the southwestern Cape, South Africa. Ostrich 61:97-106.

There are indications that the Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus population of the southwestern Cape Province, South Africa, is increasing. It is proposed that decreased post-fledging mortality due to supplementary food from man's activities, at sites such as fishing harbours and refuse dumps, is likely to be the main cause of this population increase. Kelp Gulls aggregate, and juveniles (first-year birds) are disproportionately abundant, at sites where supplementary food is available. Juvenile dispersal from the two largest breeding colonies, 38 km apart, is in opposite directions.     

MICROSATELLITES REVEAL HIGH POPULATION VISCOSITY AND LIMITED DISPERSAL IN THE ANT FORMICA PARALUGUBRIS

We used microsatellites to study the fine-scale genetic structure of a highly polygynous and largely unicolonial population of the ant Formica paralugubris. Genetic data indicate that long-distance gene flow between established nests is limited and new queens are primarily recruited from within their natal nest. Most matings occur between nestmates and are random at this level. In the center of the study area, budding and permanent connections between nests result in strong population viscosity, with close nests being more similar genetically than distant nests. In contrast, nests located outside of this supercolony show no isolation by distance, suggesting that they have been initiated by queens that participated in mating flights rather than by budding from nearby nests in our sample population. Recruitment of nestmates as new reproductive individuals and population viscosity in the supercolony increase genetic differentiation between nests. This in turn inflates relatedness estimates among worker nestmates (r = 0.17) above what is due to close pedigree links. Local spatial genetic differentiation may favor the maintenance of altruism when workers raise queens that will disperse on foot and compete with less related queens from neighboring nests or disperse on the wing and compete with unrelated queens.     

GENETIC STRUCTURE OF THE FROGS GEOCRINIA LUTEA AND GEOCRINIA ROSEA REFLECTS EXTREME POPULATION DIVERGENCE AND RANGE CHANGES,NOT DISPERSAL BARRIERS

I describe the genetic structure of two frog species, Geocrinia rosea and Geocrinia lutea, using allozyme electrophoresis to understand population structure and thereby possible mechanisms of divergence and speciation. The sampling regimes represented the entire range of both species and provided replicated tests of the impact of ridges, rivers, and dry forest on gene flow. Geocrinia rosea and G. lutea were highly genetically subdivided (F_ST = 0.69, 0.64, respectively). In the extreme, there were fixed allelic differences between populations that were only 4 km (G. rosea) or 1.25 km (G. lutea) apart. In addition to localized divergence, two-dimensional scaling of genetic distance allowed the recognition of broad-scale genetic groups, each consisting of several sample sites. Patterns of divergence were unrelated to the presence of ridges, rivers, or dry forest. I argue that range contraction and expansion, combined with extreme genetic divergence in single, isolated populations, best accounts for the genetic structure of these species.     

DISPERSAL AND POPULATION-GENETIC STRUCTURE OF THE COOPERATIVE SPIDER,AGELENA CONSOCIATA,IN WEST AFRICAN RAINFOREST

Dispersal experiments and gel electrophoresis of allozyme polymorphisms were used to investigate the selective mode underlying cooperative behavior in the rainforest spider, Agelena consociata. Previous work has indicated that individual selection alone does not explain the cooperative and even altruistic behavior noted for this African species, which exists in groups of up to hundreds of adults. We found no evidence for active dispersal by reproductives or any age class of this spider. Nest fragmentation by falling tree limbs and storms is indicated as the cause of new nest formation within local areas, while passive dispersal by vertebrate carriers that either have some association with the nests (bats) or move through them is indicated as the probable mode of longer-distance dispersal. The population-genetic structure observed for A. consociata supports the data obtained on dispersal. Wright's F_ST statistic and G tests for genetic heterogeneity indicate that the populations are subdivided into genetically heterogeneous colonies. Comparisons utilizing Nei's genetic distance show colonies separated by as few as 30 m to be as genetically distinct as are colonies separated by many kilometers. There is also a marked scarcity of heterozygotes, and individuals within nests and associated colonies are genetically related about as much as are full siblings. The results of these analyses indicate that kin selection or some type of family-group selection may have been important in the evolution of cooperative behavior in the species.     

灭鼠干扰后高原鼢鼠的种群动态与扩散

本文采用去除取样法对高原鼢鼠的种群动态及扩散行为进行了研究。结果表明,高原鼢鼠的种群密度因栖息地不同而表现出一定的差异。土壤疏松、食物丰富的栖息地内鼠密度较高。去除前的自然种群内和去除后扩散区内的鼢鼠中,其种群密度基本相同,种群结构相对稳定,成体鼢鼠的数量均占种群的７３％左右,雌雄性比为１１;去除区内鼢鼠的密度较低,雄性幼体的数量相对增加,成体的数量相对减少,其性比亦为１１。相邻动物之间的距离受密度因素的影响,在同一密度条件下,其距离无性别间的差异,动物呈镶嵌分布型。去除区内鼢鼠的平均扩散率为２６．５％,平均扩散距离为６６．９ｍ,扩散距离受土壤因素的影响。去除区内鼢鼠的成体体重小于扩散区内鼢鼠的成体体重,而在幼体间无差异。引起高原鼢鼠扩散的主要原因是种群密度,当种群密度超过平衡密度后,由于种内的相互攻击和对食物资源的相互竞争加剧使部分个体扩散出去     

FINE‐SCALE GENETIC STRUCTURE IN A WILD BIRD POPULATION: THE ROLE OF LIMITED DISPERSAL AND ENVIRONMENTALLY BASED SELECTION AS CAUSAL FACTORS

Individuals are typically not randomly distributed in space; consequently ecological and evolutionary theory depends heavily on understanding the spatial structure of populations. The central challenge of landscape genetics is therefore to link spatial heterogeneity of environments to population genetic structure. Here, we employ multivariate spatial analyses to identify environmentally induced genetic structures in a single breeding population of 1174 great tits Parus major genotyped at 4701 single‐nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci. Despite the small spatial scale of the study relative to natal dispersal, we found multiple axes of genetic structure. We built distance‐based Moran's eigenvector maps to identify axes of pure spatial variation, which we used for spatial correction of regressions between SNPs and various external traits known to be related to fitness components (avian malaria infection risk, local density of conspecifics, oak tree density, and altitude). We found clear evidence of fine‐scale genetic structure, with 21, seven, and nine significant SNPs, respectively, associated with infection risk by two species of avian malaria (Plasmodium circumflexum and P. relictum) and local conspecific density. Such fine‐scale genetic structure relative to dispersal capabilities suggests ecological and evolutionary mechanisms maintain within‐population genetic diversity in this population with the potential to drive microevolutionary change.     

黄胸鼠的年龄鉴定和种群年龄组成

本文经晶体干重法鉴定黄胸鼠的年龄,分析其种群年龄组成,并与其他年龄鉴定方法如体重法、体长法、臼齿磨损法进行了比较。     

MOVEMENTS AND POPULATION STRUCTURE OF HUMPBACK WHALES IN THE NORTH PACIFIC

Despite the extensive use of photographic identification methods to investigate humpback whales in the North Pacific, few quantitative analyses have been conducted. We report on a comprehensive analysis of interchange in the North Pacific among three wintering regions (Mexico, Hawaii, and Japan) each with two to three subareas, and feeding areas that extended from southern California to the Aleutian Islands. Of the 6,413 identification photographs of humpback whales obtained by 16 independent research groups between 1990 and 1993 and examined for this study, 3,650 photographs were determined to be of suitable quality. A total of 1,241 matches was found by two independent matching teams, identifying 2,712 unique whales in the sample (seen one to five times). Site fidelity was greatest at feeding areas where there was a high rate of resightings in the same area in different years and a low rate of interchange among different areas. Migrations between winter regions and feeding areas did not follow a simple pattern, although highest match rates were found for whales that moved between Hawaii and southeastern Alaska, and between mainland and Baja Mexico and California. Interchange among subareas of the three primary wintering regions was extensive for Hawaii, variable (depending on subareas) for Mexico, and low for Japan and reflected the relative distances among subareas. Interchange among these primary wintering regions was rare. This study provides the first quantitative assessment of the migratory structure of humpback whales in the entire North Pacific basin.